A 'Duty to Hate Britain'

by Douglas Murray • March 27, 2018 at 5:00 am

At Brooklands College in July 2017, Ahmed Hassan was awarded a prize as "student of the year". He used the £20 Amazon voucher he received to purchase the first of the ingredients he needed to build his bomb.
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave seems almost to suggest that "violating" the law of the Quran and Islam is an offense in itself -- one worth noting alongside the crime of putting a bomb on a packed commuter train.
That the judge's pronouncement was superfluous is obvious. That it is incorrect is at least equally so. But worst is that it will further erode the belief of the citizenry in their lawmakers.

London police outside Parsons Green Underground station, following the Ahmed Hassan's terrorist bombing there on September 15, 2017. (Image source: Edwardx/Wikimedia Commons)

Last week, Ahmed Hassan was sentenced to a minimum term of 34 years in prison. The previous September, he had stepped onto the District line of the London Underground and left a homemade bomb on the train. At Parson's Green tube station, the device detonated. Fortunately for the commuters, which included many children on their way to school, only the detonator of the bomb went off. On its own, it created a fireball which ran along the roof of the carriage, singeing the hair of many passengers and causing an immediate stampede away from the blast and a number of injuries. The main explosive material the of bomb, however, which was packed with shrapnel, including bolts, nails and knives, failed to detonate. Had it done so, the United Kingdom would have seen -- for the fourth time in a few months -- dozens more dead victims, including school children, carried out in body bags.

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ISIS: Surging Again in Syria?

by Sirwan Kajjo • March 27, 2018 at 4:00 am

Two days after the Turkish military and allied jihadist forces took control of the Kurdish city of Afrin in northwestern Syria, Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists launched a major attack on Syrian regime forces in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. The ISIS terrorists killed at least 25 soldiers and seized a large oil field.
Around the same time, ISIS militants captured a strategic district in the suburb of Syria's capital, Damascus, where they killed more than 60 government troops.
In the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in southern Damascus, ISIS enjoys a rising popularity among local residents. The group also maintains a significant presence near the Israeli border, where it has at least one dangerous affiliate, the Khalid bin al-Walid Army.

The Turkish-led attack on Afrin has forced more than 2,000 Kurdish and Arab fighters deployed against ISIS frontlines in eastern Syria to withdraw, in order to defend the area. Pictured: Kurdish YPG fighters near a check point at Kobane, Syria on June 20, 2015. (Photo by Ahmet Sik/Getty Images)

Two days after the Turkish military and allied jihadist forces took control of the Kurdish city of Afrin in northwestern Syria, Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists launched a major attack on Syrian regime forces in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. The ISIS terrorists killed at least 25 soldiers and seized a large oil field. Around the same time, ISIS militants captured a strategic district in the suburb of Syria's capital, Damascus, where they killed more than 60 government troops.

These two recent advances signal a possible return by the extremist group that only months ago was thought to be largely defeated.

Since Turkey, a NATO ally, launched its Afrin offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) -- a main U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS -- U.S. officials have been warning that the fighting between two U.S. allies is distracting from the main mission, which is defeating ISIS.

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